The six year evaluation of Oslo Cancer Cluster as a Norwegian Centre of Expertise concludes that Oslo Cancer Cluster is a strong biotech cluster, well positioned within the global oncology industry. “This plays well with our ambition to take the step up a level and become a Global Centre of Excellence,” says Jónas Einarsson, acting CEO of Oslo Cancer Cluster.

The thorough evaluation report gives a comprehensive picture of the Oslo Cancer Cluster as of today; our projects and plans and also our achievements over the last three years since our first evaluation in 2010. Both evaluations have been done by Oxford Research.

Bottlenecks have been identified and reduced
“The evaluation points out that Oslo Cancer Cluster from 2010-2013 have managed to address the challenges for oncology R&D in Norway as well as the weaker points from the first evaluation. We have identified some crucial bottlenecks within clinical trials, and contributed to reduce the pre-clinical development time for oncology start-ups. We have also made it easier for SME`s to attract the capital they need to develop new oncology treatment. This I am very proud of”, says Jónas Einarsson, acting CEO of Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Einarsson continues: “All in all we have received an excellent evaluation. The evaluation concludes that we have untapped innovation potential, and that we need to address this issue in the years to come. This is totally in line with what we plan to do through the work with the Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park and the Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.”

Well positioned to become a Global Centre of Expertise
The public cluster program in Norway has until now included two levels; Arena and Norwegian Centre of Expertise. In 2014 a third and higher level, the Global Centre of Expertise (GCE) will be introduced. Only mature clusters with a global position will obtain the elite status as a GCE and probably only 4-5 clusters will be chosen.

“Oslo Cancer Cluster`s ambition is to become one of these 4-5 GCE-clusters. The evaluation shows that we are a global player in the oncology field, and that we have succeeded in establishing an extensive international network that exposes the members for the global oncology industry and secures that recourses like capital and competence are accessible,” says Einarsson.

Einarsson points out that the three years to come will take the cluster a giant step further on the global scale with a targeted focus on innovation: “In 2015 Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park opens and this will become a power centre for oncology R&D. The Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator will make sure that we have new commercialization’s from oncology research. These new start-ups will have better frame work conditions to succeed than ever before. Oslo Cancer Cluster has since the start managed to build a solid fundament. In many ways the cluster has just begun its work.”

Other conclusions from the evaluation:

Particularly strong topics within Oslo Cancer Cluster are personalised medicine and immuno-oncology. These are also the buzzwords on the global oncology scene, which makes the cluster well positioned and attractive as a collaborative partner.

The cluster have increased the number of members considerably and in parallel developed into a national cluster representing the entire oncology-value chain from bench to bedside.

There is now a considerably degree of trust between the members which is based on regular networking and collaboration across disciplines.

The strategy work performed during this three-year period have been of good quality and have been embedded in a god way.

The feedback from the members on the importance of Oslo Cancer Cluster for their company, institution is to some extent a bit weaker in 2013 than 2010. We take this very seriously and will take action and see how we may perform better here.

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Oslo Cancer Cluster is an oncology research and industry cluster dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients by accelerating the development of new cancer diagnostics and medicines.

We are a national non-profit member organization with about 90 members. Our members are Norwegian and international companies, research and financial institutions, university hospitals and organizations – all working in the cancer field.